Square’s ILC bid may open floodgates for fintechs

WASHINGTON — Trends pick up fast in Silicon Valley and for financial innovators, the up-and-coming regulatory strategy is to seek a bank charter.

In June, the online lender Social Finance, or SoFi, applied for an industrial loan company charter in Utah to process certain depository accounts and credit cards. A month later, the mobile-only bank Varo submitted a first-of-its-kind application for a traditional national bank charter.

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